After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 24, 2019

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Evolutionary biologists retrace the history of life in all its wondrous forms. Some search for the origin of our species. Others hunt for the origin of birds.

On Thursday, a team of researchers reported an important new insight into the origin of zombies — in this case, ants zombified by a fungus.

Here’s how it works: Sometimes an ant, marching about its business outdoors, will step on a fungal spore. It sticks to the ant’s body and slips a fungal cell inside.

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Friday’s Elk, October 4, 2019

Posted on by Matt Kristoffersen

Happy October. Since my last newsletter, I’ve done some intense reporting for the New York Times–first on some pretty scary news, and then on some research that lets us all delight in the workings of nature.

 

First the bad news. Across the United States and Canada, the population of all birds has declined 29 percent since 1970. There are lots of other animals than birds we should be mindful of, of course, but birds speak to people in a special way. Even in the middle of cities, they can visit us from the natural world. And those visits are getting rarer, probably thanks to a number of human factors, from cats to industrial farming. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, October 4, 2019” →

These Butterflies Evolved to Eat Poison. How Could That Have Happened?

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 2, 2019

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The caterpillar of the monarch butterfly eats only milkweed, a poisonous plant that should kill it. The caterpillars thrive on the plant, even storing its toxins in their bodies as a defense against hungry birds.

For decades, scientists have marveled at this adaptation. On Thursday, a team of researchers announced they had pinpointed the key evolutionary steps that led to it.

Only three genetic mutations were necessary to turn the butterflies from vulnerable to resistant, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. They were able to introduce these mutations into fruit flies, and suddenly they were able to eat milkweed, too.

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These Ants Use Germ-Killers, and They’re Better Than Ours

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, September 26, 2019

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As a microbiologist, Massimiliano Marvasi has spent years studying how microbes have defeated us. Many pathogens have evolved resistance to penicillin and other antimicrobial drugs, and now public health experts are warning of a global crisis in treating infectious diseases.

These days, Dr. Marvasi, a senior researcher at the University of Florence in Italy, finds solace in studying ants.

About 240 species of ants grow underground gardens of fungi. They protect their farms against pathogens using powerful chemicals secreted by bacteria on their bodies. Unlike humans, ants are not facing a crisis of antimicrobial resistance.

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Birds Are Vanishing From North America

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, September 19, 2019

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The skies are emptying out.

The number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29 percent since 1970, scientists reported on Thursday. There are 2.9 billion fewer birds taking wing now than there were 50 years ago.

The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the most exhaustive and ambitious attempt yet to learn what is happening to avian populations. The results have shocked researchers and conservation organizations.

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